Arkhick50, one of our fellow members (and fellow Vietnam Veteran) claims another win. Having mastered the art of  “Win or Die”, it seems he has the Little Rock VARO teetering back on their heels. If you recall, he finally hit the jackpot back in September of 2012 at his RO without the dreaded appeal to DC. Following up on that with a carefully orchestrated attack, he was able to convert on Point After Touchdown and turn his 90% into a TDIU for 100%. This will be retroactive to his filing in March of 2011. All according to plan.

The VA has turned him down for his HCV claim which simply sets the stage for a later fight. A well-written letter by Dr. Cecil should be all that is necessary to produce a win in that column as well. Mr. Arkhick has two excellent risk factors of STD documented in service as well as a more than probable transfusion in the very last days of his enlistment following a severe automobile accident. Between the two, his chances are somewhere between good and great.

As with most Vets, that ingrained feeling of the retribution so many Vets hear about the VA still lingers in his mind. To go for the HCV or to leave well enough alone? I suggested two things. If he dies of HCV unrated within the next ten years it’s sayonara DIC to his significant other. I do not see the danger. His claim is legitimate and without fraud. I believe he should pursue it for any number of reasons-SMC being the big second one. Mostly, I counsel him to pursue it because it is his due. He earned it and he shouldn’t have to beg and grovel for it. More appropriately, he shouldn’t have to quail at  the idea  of losing one claim for having the intestinal fortitude to pursue another.

Few realize Ark has been at this far longer than most. He spent a lot of time researching it before he pushed print at my old site. He was computer ignorant when he started and was armed with little more than a typewriter. His knowledge of the process has blossomed like an algae bloom in a lake and is suffocating the VA. With his TDIU in the bag, he got the Permanent and Total rating  up front. VA is not disputing he’s eligible. Usually this would entail a two year wait and a follow-on C&P to make sure he wasn’t faking it. His preparation was total and his reasoning  so flawless they put up no resistance. This is the essence of the theme of the asknod book. This is his take on it in his own words:

The value to them of seeing another success story, even if it isn’t a Hep victory, should give hope to many guys like me who see that 85% turndown stat you often remark about, and perhaps receive a jolt of inspiration and say to themselves-“if this guy can do it by himself and if he says he learned practically everything he needed from AskNod, I can do it too”-then when month after month stacks up with no response from the VARO, he sees this and looks over his claim again, goes back out to your site with a new commitment to research every posting again to see if he’s missed anything, because that’s what I did and I taught myself the medical terminology necessary to prosecute my claim to the finish (still some left to do).  They really need to “Believe” that the hours spent night after night researching are well-spent in order to develop the attitude necessary to be successful. Those were agonizing days going up the long lane to the mailbox everyday at my buddy’s place, only to find it empty or filled with stuff for Larry. There has to be hope to keep doing this in the dark days and that’s why I think a story about a guy going from 0% to permanent and total TDIU in 25 months, might reach a few veterans who are on the precipice of giving up, who have put their claims in an envelope and put in on the top shelf of the closet and haven’t thought about it since.

       Without you arkhick50 would still exist and it would never have been necessary to unveil kanhick50, so with each of these victories you should take an internal bow and do an “aw shucks, I was just doing what came natural to me”.  

Trust me, kandohick50. I take an internal bow and congratulate all of you for your steely resolve. I might inspire you and others but you carry the water. The victory is wholly yours.

Seems like something is afoot in the backlog department. Perhaps this is the new VA where everyone’s a winner. Of course if you believe that, I’d like to invite you to join my local chapter of the Flat Earth Society. We meet monthly right on the edge of the known Earth down near Chehalis, Washington. The view is stupendous.  You can see China if you hold  a mirror under the edge. Now, without further ado, meet March Madness- Arkhick  Kanhick for all the marbles:

I know a  lot of you by now are beginning to think this is disgustingly easy. I assure you it is not. Every one of the ladies and gentlemen who grace these pages has prepared long and hard. Ploughshares were abandoned. Spears and swords were sharpened. Long letters were written. Many hours were spent searching for the Holy Grail of winning claims. Here at asknod, it seems, more have found success than failure. Why that is becomes a study in perseverance. Every last one of you had the fire in your belly and none lost the zest for pursuing that which was your due. I’d call it anally compulsive disorder.  My electric and phone bills bear the scars as well. Between them and the book, it seems like money well-spent.

Nothing gives me more joy than getting these letters. Well, nothing other than the flush of victory that comes with the defeat of a common foe. Remember Janis Joplin’s famous Me and Bobbie McGee written by Kris Kristofferson?  Part of my inspiration for Win or Die comes from the seminal lyric “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”  It neatly sums up the situation we face with a VA claim. With little or nothing left to lose, we, too, have only one option. Sadly 53 of our fraternity pass away every day before they attain it. 22 take their own lives daily in frustration-in no small measure due to the interminable delay they face waiting for meaningful help. None of this sways the hierarchy at the VA. Were I the VASEC, I would be mortified to be calling cadence  on this  march to the charnel house.

Arkhick50 represents the 36th in a line of padewans who have graduated to become Jedi Knights. I pray I live to see a hundred more prevail. I secretly hope I kill this bug and live to teach a thousand. I would hope that some of you will hear the calling and pay it forward for others less fortunate. Trust me when I say it is food for the soul the likes of which there is no other.

Some day, after the cure for HCV has quelled the spread and healed us all, this facet of the battle will cease. Unfortunately the injustice will still fester like gangrene until a sea change occurs in the thinking down in DC. Vets will get justice when our system reaches parity with the SSI model-and not before.

P.S. Small error here. I miscounted. Randy was #35, Robert #36 and Arkhick #37. Brainfog is a terrible thing to comprehend. I apologize. Too many wins in to short a period of time. I’m not accustomed to it.

Do you have what it takes?